feelings is, that their lips are taught to pronounce_sentiments, extracted from the very dregs of the European drama. Par. Then it seems you do not approve of females speaking at all? Precep. Not on a public stage, unless I wished to see them divested of half their charms. Such mascu line employments as ill become them, as the labours of the field, or the habits of the stronger sex. I would have them taught to read and pronounce well at school; but nature never designed them for public orators; much less, that they should be degraded to the vile purpose of entertaining the votaries of theatrical a musements. Par. Why, you differ widely from many, whose pride it is to be considered as the standards of modern taste. It does not now offend against the rules of delicacy, for the different sexes to make exchange of gar ments now and then, provided the grand object of amusement be promoted by it. I was in Boston last week, and there I saw a beautiful young lady, rigged out from top to toe in men's apparel, astride a gay horse, parading through the streets, for the entertainment of the ladies and gentlemen of that polite metropolis. And none appeared to be offended, except a few who had not attained a relish for refined pleasures. Precep. Yes, and I am told, that, at their theatres, if is no uncommon thing for a woman to make her appearance, in that apparel, with a sword by her side, strutting across the stage, and swearing oaths big enough to choke an Algerine pirate; and yet it is so agreeable to the modern ton, that even ladies of distinguished refinement are ashamed to blush at her! Par. You have made me so far a convert to your sentiments on this subject, and given me such proofs of your superiour judgment in the education of youth, that I am determined to commit my son, without any reserve, to your care and instruction. Till you hear from me again, I am, Sir, your obedient servant. THE THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, DEMONSTRATED [N. B. When found expedient, the following Sermon may conveniently be divided into three or four parts, suitable for declamations. The author of this work did not intend at first to insert the whole; but, in attempting to make a selection, he could find no part which he was willing to leave.] more TOTHING will more effectually guard us against vice, than a firm belief in the existence of God. For surely if we realize that there is such a Being, we shall naturally infer from his perfections, from the nature of his moral government, and from our situation as rational creatures, that we are amenable at his awful tribunal. Superiour power, wisdom, and goodness, always lay us under restraint, and command our veneration. These, even in a mortal, overawe us. They restrain not only the actions, but the words and thoughts of the most vicious and abandoned. Our happiness depends on our virtue. Our virtue depends on the conformity of our hearts and conduct to the laws prescribed us by our beneficent Creator. Of what vast importance then is it to our present as well as future felicity, to possess in our hearts a feeling sense, and in our understanding a clear conviction, of the existence of that Being whose power and goodness are unbounded, whose presence fills immensity, and whose wisdom, like a torrent of lightning, emanates through all the dark recesses of eternal duration! How great must be the effect of a sense of the presence of the great Creator and Governor of all things, to whom belong the attributes, eternity, independency, perfect holiness, inflexible justice, and inviolable veracity; complete happiness and glorious majesty; supreme right and unbounded dominion! A sense A sense of accountability to God will retard the eager pursuit of vice; it will humble the heart of the proud, it will bridle the tongue of the profane, and snatch the knife from the hand of the assassin. A belief of the existence of God is the true original source of all virtue, and the only foundation of all religion, natural or revealed. Set aside this great luminous truth, erase the conviction of it from the heart, you then place virtue and vice on the same level; you drive afflicted innocence into despair; you add new effrontery to the marred visage of guilt; you plant thorns in the path, and shed an impenetrable gloom over the prospects of the righteous. Sin has alienated the affections, and diverted the attention of men from the great Jehovah. "Darkness has covered the earth, and gross darkness the people." Men have worshipped the works of their own hands, and neglected the true God, though his existence and perfections were stamped in glaring characters on all creation. From the regularity, order, beauty, and conservation of this great system of things, of which man makes a part; from the uniform tendency of all its divisions to their proper ends, the existence of God shines as clearly as the sun in the heavens. "From the things that are made," says the text, "are seen his eternal power and Godhead." 1. Man himself is a proof of God's existence. Let us place him before us in his full stature. We are at once impressed with the beautiful organization of his body, with the orderly and harmonious arrangement of his members. Such is the disposition of these, that their motion is the most easy, graceful, and useful, that can be conceived. We are astonished to see the same simple matter diversified into so many different substances, of different qualities, size and figure. If we pursue our researches through the internal economy, we shall find, that all the different opposite parts correspond to each other with the utmost exactness and order; that they all answer the most beneficent purposes. This wonderful machine, the human body, is animated, cherished, and preserved, by a spirit within, which pervades every particle, feels in every organ, warns us of injury, and administers to our pleasures. Erect in stature, man differs from all other animals. Though his foot is confined to the earth, yet his eye measures the whole circuit of heaven and in an instant takes in thousands of worlds. His countenance is turned upward, to teach us that he is not, like other animals, limited to the earth, but looks forward to brighter scenes of existence in the skies. Whence came this erect, orderly, beautiful constitution of the human body? Did it spring up from the earth, self-formed? Surely not. Earth itself is inactive matter. That which has no motion can never produce any. Man surely could not, as has been vainly and idly supposed, have been formed by the fortuitous concurrence of atoms. We behold the most exact order in the constitution of the human body. Order always involves design. Design always involves intelligence. That intelligence, which directed the orderly formation of the human body, must have resided in a Being whose power was adequate to the production of such an effect. Creation surely is the prerogative of a self-existent, uncaused Being. Finite creatures may arrange and dispose, but they cannot create they cannot give life. It is a universal law through all nature, that like produces like. The same laws most probably obtain through the whole system in which we are connected. We have therefore no reason to suppose that angels created man. Neither can we, without the greatest absurdity, admit that he was formed by himself, or by mere accident. If in the latter way, why do we never see men formed so in the present day? Why do we never see the clots of earth brightening into human flesh, and the dust under our feet crawling into animated forms, and starting up into life and intelligence? If we even admit that either of the forementioned causes might have produced man, yet neither of them could have preserved him in existence one moment. There must therefore be a God uncaused, independent, and complete. The nobler part of man clearly evinces this great truth. When we consider the boundless desires and the inconceivable activity of the soul of man, we can refer his origin to nothing but God. How astonishing are the reasoning faculties of man! How surprising the power of comparing, arranging, and con necting his ideas! How wonderful is the power of imagination! On its wings, in a moment, we can transport ourselves to the most distant part of the universe. We can fly back, and live the lives of all antiquity, or surmount the limits of time, and sail along the vast range of eternity. Whence these astonishing powers, if not from a God of infinite wisdom, goodness, and power? 2. The invisible things of him from the creation of the world," says the text, 66 are. clearly seen." Let us for a moment behold our earth. With what a delightful scene are we here presented! the diversification of its surface into land and water, islands, and lakes, springs and rivers, hills and vallies, mountains and plains, renders it to man doubly enchanting. We are entertained with an agreeable variety, without being disgusted by a tedious uniformity. Every thing appears admirably formed for our profit and delight. There the vallies are clothed in smiling green, and the plains are bending with corn. Here is the gentle hill to delight the eye, and beyond, slow rising from the earth, swells the huge mountain, and with all its load of waters, rocks, and woods, heaves itself up into the skies. Why this pleasing, vast deformity of nature? Undoubtedly for the benefit of man. From the mountains descend streams to fertilize the plains below, and cover them with wealth and beauty. The earth not only produces every thing necessary to support our bodies, but to remedy our diseases, and gratify |